PROGRESS IN TEMPERANCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43106, 18 June 1907, Page 1

PROGRESS IN TEMPERANCE.

CHANGED VIEWS ON ALCOHOL. ;

By Professor rGy Sims Woodhead in the “ Christian World ” Jubilee Ndtnber.

We are * sometimes told that in the 1 ihdttef of jjationai t Temperance and sobriity little progress has been during the last fifty year&, ih spite of the tremendous efforts that have been put forth by those" who hate been 1 interested in our national* and individual welfare. If we go into the felum, the gaol, the hospital and! the asylum, and search for causes of the'misery, degradation, aud disease with wrhich we ate there, faced, we may well feel discouraged with the results of these‘efforts. If, we ; take a wider view and study the conditions under which out ... people now. . live, we have some cause for congratulation in the wonderful improvement in these conditions as the outcome of the altered . attitude of those who ure interested in the* health,. Social customs, and general' 1 prosperity 5 of the community; . > Social Wobk. In no branch of social work has more been- . accomplished than in connection with the formation of 1 a J healthy ! public opinion on this alcohol "question. Fashion, Which not long ago,; if it did not set its seal on aleo*.. holic excess, certainly/made ex- ' cuses for the drunkaad or coudoned his offence, has now - issued its fiat that drunkenness r is “ bad : form,’’ , and- this not % ouiy amongst the Bober middle classes, but also amongst thd. “ upper ten ” and; amongst* the u, “ labouring ” paH d^thO 1 population, i. The efforts of earnest and able workers and pleaders in all three classes have led to - the creation of a public opinion vhich condemhs.afc6hbiic excess s it has never before been condemned, and the one, two, or three bottle men of the last generation have disappeared:, as completely as if they had never existed. Life assubance past and Bee-; ;; SENT. ■ ! To anyone who; has watched;; the driuking J eiiStbms of the last‘fifty years, the increase of Temperance aud the discouragement of intemperance have been ex- , ceediugly marked conditions of our social life., ()ne great rea* son for this is that men have studied ihe matter for themv selves Let me take aa. example; or two. Before Temperance sections of life assurance companies was formed, the “teetotaler ” could have his life assured • after much trouble and ' at a higher rate than his fionabstaining neighbour. Now‘we have a very different state of affairs. The abstainer is insured at a 10 per cent, lower premium thanhis non-abs tuning friend, however “temperate” that friend may be. Moreover, it was state! the other day that uuder the employees’ insurance scheme certain companies are prepared to insure the employer agaimt risks of accident; etc., to his servants—ip. the case of the clerk at something like 3s 6d per individual *. but‘in the; case of the bar-lender, who receives a similar salary, .at a premium of 20s. These* are interesting and significant facts and figures and deserve .our most cireful consideration. Treating in business-

“ Treating ” as part of a business transaction still exists in certain trades and amongst certain classes of commercial men, but one of the most encouraging features of our modern commercial life is that'm my of our best and most su »l men of busbies have set heir faces most determinedly ag ti i t such treating* (To be co ui ued)